Yubiwa
by fleetingthunder
Summary: Armin Arlert was a normal lab worker of Hanji Zoe, but things changed his life when flashes of memory-like scenes started playing on his head. Where are these going to lead him? Who are the people who knows what's the meaning behind these seemingly tragic scenes that plagued him. Post-titan universe. Aruani and some Levihan.


Author's Note: Another aruani fic! And now it's going to be multi-chaptered because when I think of oneshots about them it turns out always having too much fluff and the two characters loses their substance. Okay, so to warn you all… this story is going to be in post-titan universe. Though I think things will look too much of another AU since there'll be more of the modern world here. Oh, and besides aruani, there'll be some levihan (I'm not sure of eremika yet because they're such strong characters that even I could appreciate them having no pairing at all. They're wonderful like that, aren't they?).

Disclaimer: Hajime Isayama owns everything but my storyline… plus Sotaro and Kentaro ;D

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**856**

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"Kaa-san!" A raven-haired boy shouted as he ran towards his mother's office.

Armin Arlert looked up from his desk and saw a blur of black rush past him. "Ne So-chan, slow down please. Your mother will get angry at me if you topple down one of her experiments."

The boy paused before the door of his mother's office. Trying to reach the knob, Sotaro said, "Demo, Armin-nii! It's urgent. Ken-chan blasted off Bean's head and even Sonny's puking out lots of green blob."

"Mou! Sota! Stop running off to mother! If it's the mess you're angry about I swear I'll clean it better this time." A boy almost identical to the first, except he had dark brown locks instead of black, walked in frustratingly mussing his hair with hands that were stained in different hues. "Nevermind, you'll still tell on me. Right? Hmph! Alright just do that you wimp-o. I won't bother with you anymore. Bleh!" Sticking out his tongue, Kentaro wandered off back to their room, which was just located at the top floor of the building.

"Bleh!" the younger of the two responded before going back to his business of reaching for the knob of his mother's door.

Armin stood up with a sigh. He approached Sotaro and reached above his head to knock on the door. When there was no response he opened the door slightly. "Hanji-san, Sotaro's here." When still there was no response, he pushed the door open completely and peeked inside the room. There on her couch was Hanji's splayed out form, sleeping heavily as her loud snore indicated.

"Sorry So-chan but your mother is sleeping. We should leave her be and—"he halted his talk when he realized that the small guy was missing from his old spot. He swerved his head back to view the inside of the room, and his eyes widened in horror seeing that Sotaro was already riding his mother in an attempt to wake her up.

The blonde man closed his eyes and pinched his nose in an attempt to calm the dread that was slowly creeping up his skin.

Recalling that it was almost the end of his shift when the boys came in, Armin looked at his watch enthusiastically and almost jumped up in happiness when he saw that it was already past 7pm. _'Lucky!'_ he thought.

"Ha! I'm off Sota-kun. Working hours is up and I still have many things to attend to at home." Armin grinned down at the child not even being discrete enough of the fact that he was too happy to get away. _'Except there's practically none, and I just don't want to get killed by a badly woken up Hanji-san, to boot.'_ he added in his mind. Scrambling away in haste, Armin almost tripped on his foot as he remembered Hanji's grim threat of annihilating him if he ever let one- or worse both- of the twins disturb her when she's "resting" (more like sleeping in for a day after concluding consecutive days of nonstop little-to-no-eat, drink, bath, or sleep experiments).

When he at last gathered all his things and have reached the stairs down the building of his working place, he sighed in relief, thanking all the gods who saved him from Hanji, who was already screaming her lungs out as a bucket of water was poured all over her.

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Before Armin went home, he stopped by the convenience store just near his apartment complex to buy some onigiri and fruits for dinner. Seconds after entering the store, the television inside the place seemed to blast so loud to Armin that he thought a migraine was starting to form in his head. He made a fast grab at the onigiri and fruits section and immediately heaved his selections to the counter.

"Are you alright, dear?" Shiro-san, the owner of the store asked as she punched in his items and packed it all up in a paper bag.

"My head's feeling kind of weird. I think I might've overworked a bit." Armin replied while paying the old woman the exact amount of his purchase.

Looking up at the must-be source of his migraine, Armin saw a picture of a blonde woman being flashed in the news.

"Yesterday, a high-profile detainee, Corporal Annie Leondhardt, was found missing in her prison cell. Leonhardt is suspected to be the mastermind…. "

Before the report ended Armin have grabbed the filled paper bag and left the shop after thanking Shiro-san. His migraine was building up by each minute and by the time he reached his apartment he was already in a head-splitting pain.

He dropped the food he bought on his kitchen counter and dragged his feet to his room. He sat on the bed and cradled his head. He tried to massage his forehead but the pain continued to grow harsher. Tears rolled down his face. Curling in his bed, Armin screamed out hoping that the pain would stop by doing so. This went on for minutes that stretched like hours to Armin and when it did end, Armin slipped into a comforting slumber.


End file.
